Died with his boots on

Friends, family and fans celebrate memory of famed Rigor Mortis guitarist MikeScaccia

Poster of Mike Scaccia with one of the guitar-shaped flower arrangements at hismemorial on Sunday December 30.
Mike Scaccia memorial took place on December 30 at the Aristide Event Center inMansfield Texas.
Scaccia's three favorite guitars, all named Gibson.
Gibson's wife Jenny said he loved to cook and had a favorite spaghetti &meatballs recipe he got from his grandmother in Italy.
Scaccia's daughter Sarah said that Scaccia was "beautiful" --- "he spent moretime on his hair than I do, and I'm a hair stylist," she said.
"Saying goodbye has completely broken my heart," said his daughter Taarna.
A crowd of more than 1,000 mourned the passing of Mike Scaccia, with commentsfrom family members and a video/collage of images from Scaccia's life.
Rigor Mortis singer Bruce Corbitt said that Scaccia was at the happiest time ofhis life.
Rigor Mortis bass player Casey Orr began his emotional comments by saying, "Thisis probably going to be the hardest thing I've ever done."

More than 1,000 friends, fans, musicians and family members of Dallas musician Mike Scaccia assembled on Sunday for a service that both memorialized his passing and reinforced the tight-knit community that exists in the metal-rock world.

Scaccia, who gained fame playing guitar for bands such as Rigor Mortis and Ministry, died onstage on December 22 at the Rail Club in Fort Worth, when he collapsed mid-performance from a heart attack at age 47.

There was no mistaking his role as a guitarist at the Aristide Event Center in Mansfield, where the service was held. Flower arrangements were shaped like guitars, and three of his personal guitars were on display as a stand-in for his body. Because this service was open to the public, there was no viewing; a private event for friends and family took place on Saturday night.

Casey Orr, who played bass for Rigor Mortis, declared that "Mike Scaccia will live forever," and the assembly applauded.

The service incorporated a video/collage of images from Scaccia's life, with comments from his daughters and wife, Jenny, and members of his inner circle, including the other three players in Rigor Mortis.

Certain themes emerged: that the way he died — while playing guitar onstage — had a certain poetry; that he was modest and accessible; that he had a sly sense of humor; and that his final days were his happiest.

His daughter Sarah, who selflessly opened her Facebook page to the public so that fans could share her grief, led off with a reading of Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," then offered some informal comments about her father's passing.

"I never looked at my dad as a rock star, or as 'the greatest musician,' or a guitar god, but he was god to us because he was our dad," she said. "I've been getting photos and notes from all over the world, and it means so much that you all came out. Thank you so much for supporting him."

Casey Orr, who played bass for Rigor Mortis, declared that "Mike Scaccia will live forever," and the assembly applauded.

"He'll live in his band mates, his friends, his fans and other guitar players who will be inspired by what he did," he said. "We lost one of the greatest, most unpretentious rock stars and a one-of-a-kind talent. But he died doing what he loved, with his boots on, with his current favorite Les Paul in his hands."

Producer Kerry Crafton said he felt lucky to get to work on the first Rigor Mortis album, as well as the last: Rigor Mortis recently reunited and recorded a new album, Slaves to the Grave. Talent booker Jeff Liles shared an anecdote about a trip to Los Angeles he and Scaccia made after Rigor Mortis was signed by Capitol Records in 1986; when they endured an earthquake, the unflappable Scaccia sat back and laughed.

Scaccia's daughter Taarna sobbed as she recalled his passion for cooking, and the fact that she would never be able to watch a horror film or hear a guitar without thinking of him. And his wife closed the comments with a description of Scaccia as doting to their two toddlers and modest about his fame.

"He would warm up for live shows for six hours because he wanted every note to be perfect," she said. "He didn't want to be referred to as a rock star; he wanted to be known as a musician."

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Movie Review

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson face pre-marriage jitters in The Drama

Photo courtesy of A24

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in The Drama.

Robert Pattinson and Zendaya will be seen together a lot at the movies in 2026, with mega-films like The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three coming out later in the year. But fans can get a much more intimate look at the two stars in a film that offers a unique take on relationship struggles, The Drama.

Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are a New York couple who are engaged to be married. After a quick-but-effective montage of their courtship, the story joins them as they are just days away from their wedding. As they get all the details like music, flowers, and food finalized, a visit to the caterer with married friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) proves fateful.

A few too many drinks leads to each member of the group deciding to divulge the worst thing they’ve ever done. While each story is slightly shocking, Emma’s takes the cake, so much so that Charlie starts to question their relationship. As they get closer to the wedding date, Charlie finds it increasingly difficult to get beyond Emma’s revelation, with each real or imagined conversation threatening to derail their previously tight bond.

Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the film is provocative, funny, and cringey as it tries to get to the center of human dynamics. Charlie, Rachel, and Mike have starkly different reactions to Emma’s story, and the way those play out over the course of the film provides, well, the drama. The harder Charlie tries to justify Emma’s past, the more his underlying feelings start to eat at him, causing friction not just between him and Emma, but in other parts of his life, as well.

Strangely, especially for a character played by Zendaya, Emma recedes more than expected. Her explanations for her previous actions are timid at best, and she mostly seems to be waiting for Charlie to forgive her instead of questioning why she needs forgiveness. Borgli favors the male side of the equation, and in so doing he doesn’t dig as deep into the root of the issue as he could have.

Still, the downward spiral at the center of the story has a propulsive nature to it, and each successive step proves to be both hard to watch and impossible to turn away from. It also helps that Borgli manages the tone well, keeping interactions between characters relatively light so that the film doesn’t turn into one like Marriage Story.

Pattinson, who gets to use his own British accent for once, put on an interesting performance that is much better than his last two roles in Mickey 17 and Die My Love. He has good chemistry with Zendaya, who manages to shine despite being laden with a role that doesn’t play entirely to her strengths. Haim and Athie do good work in small roles, while Hailey Grace and Hannah Gross make an impact in brief appearances.

The situation in which Emma and Charlie find themselves in The Drama is not one to be wished on anyone, but it’s presented well by Borgli, keeping tensions high for the bulk of the film. Despite the two main characters not given completely equal footing, the story finds a way to get to a satisfactory ending.

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The Drama opens in theaters on April 3.

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